The NRA recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear NRA v. Glass, a case that could determine whether or not 18-to-20-year-olds in Florida are able to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
In 2018, the Sunshine State completely banned 18-to-20-year-olds from purchasing firearms. Anyone who violates the ban is subject to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $5000 or both.
In response, the NRA filed a lawsuit in 2021, which argued that the ban violates the Second Amendment rights of 18-to-20-year-olds in Florida. Earlier this year, however, an en banc hearing from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the purchase ban in a fractured decision. Such is why the NRA is now asking the high court to hear the case.
The NRA’s Petition for Certiorari focuses on the need for the high court to review the split between various lower courts over whether or not adults under 21 have Second Amendment rights.
“The right to keep and bear arms ‘belongs to all Americans,’ not ‘an unspecified subset,’” reads the petition. “A fundamental incident of adulthood in America is the enjoyment of constitutional rights, including the right to defend yourself, your family, and your home with common firearms. Stripping away an 18-year-old adult’s Second Amendment rights is thus fundamentally irreconcilable ‘with the principles that underpin the Nation’s regulatory tradition.’”
The petition also explains why Florida’s ban is unconstitutional thanks to the landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which determined that adults under 21 are among “the people” protected by the Second Amendment.
“Americans 18 years of age and older are considered adults who can vote, enter into contracts, marry, and enlist and fight for our country,” said John Commerford, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). “Those same adults are also guaranteed the right to defend themselves through the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The NRA is asking the Supreme Court to take up this critical case to safeguard the constitutional rights of adults under 21.”
This issue has been working its way through the courts for years. Now the high court has a chance to rule on this important issue. America’s 1st Freedom contributor Stephen Halbrook aptly wrote in 2023: “Make no mistake, some courts are engaged in massive resistance against Bruen, just as they did with Heller. Still, many courts are taking Bruen seriously and finding restrictions violative of the Second Amendment. What is unfolding is part of a larger historical struggle between freedom and government control, and it will never end.”
